Wisch List

The #Cubs have designated Carlos Marmol for assignment. I wonder if he can walk himself to Iowa.

— Dave Wischnowsky (@wischlist) June 25, 2013

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) If I was a decade younger – heck, half a decade younger – I might still be out on Clark Street this morning. Hopefully, not lying in a gutter.

But while my 37-year-old self didn’t crowd surf on any metal barricades, fire off any fireworks or tick off any mounted police, I did still hustle from my place over to Wrigley Field last night to soak in the revelry at the de facto Madhouse on (M)Addison following the Blackhawks’ stunning Stanley Cup championship victory.

And this I know: there were more Blackhawks sweaters and T-shirts being worn at the corner of Clark and Addison than the number that even existed in the entire city four years ago.

And this I know, as well: The Blackhawks now own Chicago. Truly they do.

Earlier this month, I wrote in my weekly Wisch List newspaper column about how during wintertime, Chicago is undoubtedly a Bears town. During summertime, it’s always been a baseball town. And during Michael Jordan’s time, it was a Bulls town.

But during this current time in June 2013, it’s become a Blackhawks town more than anything else. And that really is something.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, June 22, editions of the The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

The 1980s were good to many in America.

But they weren’t very good to pinball.

After the introduction of microprocessors elevated pinball into the wildly popular realm of electronic gaming during the 1970s, the video game boom of the ’80s turned the blinking lights out on pinball’s heyday.

As tastes changed, arcades began yanking out rows of pinball machines and replacing them with the trendier likes of Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Galaga. And if there was a reason for an arcade to expand, it was because of video games, not pinball.

But, ironically, in Chicago those tables have now been turned.

Or, perhaps to better use pinball lingo, flipped.

Last fall, I introduced you to Headquarters Beercade, a new hotspot in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood from nightlife entrepreneurs Mark Kwiatkowski and Brian Galati that uniquely combined a vintage video game arcade with a bar. It was a great concept that drew many old-school gamers and new-school craft beer aficionados by offering them a fantastic escape back to the 1980s when many a kid would cash in his or her allowance for a fistful of quarters and a chance to beat Donkey Kong or survive as Frogger at the local arcade.

Now, however, Headquarters is allowing you to travel even further back in time to the ’70s and immerse yourself in the era of pinball wizards.

On Memorial Day weekend, the bar at 950 W. Wolfram St. completed its expansion into the former Uncle Fatty’s Rum Resort next-door, adding 7,000-square-feet of space dedicated to pinball – and drinks.

The spacious new “Pincade” features a trio of bars and a lively center area that Headquarters refers to as “pinball alley,” which features three lanes that include 20 of the noisy iconic machines. There, you’ll find a dizzying array of pinball themes ranging from Indiana Jones to X-Men to Guns & Roses and from Tales From the Crypt to the Avengers to the Addams Family.

Continue reading “Pinball wizards now have a new lair in Chicago”

Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Over the years, Chicago has seen a lot of bad baseball.

(Have you noticed?)

But it’s been a long time since the city has seen baseball as bad as this on both sides of town.

Heading into Friday’s games, both the Cubs and the White Sox were mired in last place in their respective divisions with near identical records that have them on pace to drop 95 games apiece.

As it stands right now, that projected total of 190 losses puts them within very close striking distance of matching – or topping – the record 191 defeats that the Cubs and Sox combined for way back in 1948.

This ain’t the Golden Age of Chicago baseball, folks.

It’s a sport that the city started playing at the Major League level in 1876, and since then Chicago has endured 41 seasons in which either the Cubs (22 times) or the White Sox (19) have lost at least 90 games.

To continue reading, visit CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) He arrived in Miami predicting “Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven” NBA championships, which leaves us to assume that LeBron James bolted Cleveland for South Beach to win eight crowns with the Heat.

And if King James ever truly expects his hoops legend to sit on a throne above Michael Jordan’s in the court of public opinion, he just might need every last one of them.

Today in a piece for NPR, columnist Gene Demby mixed summer blockbusters – flicks and Finals – and delved into that topic when he shared his belief tthat “LeBron James is Superman to Michael Jordan’s Lex Luthor.”

“That’s going to sound blasphemous,” Demby continued, “but more than the San Antonio Spurs whom he faces for all of the marbles in tonight’s NBA Finals, or any other team he might face in the future, James’ biggest foil is actually Michael Jordan, The Greatest Basketball Player Ever.”

It’s difficult to disagree. After all, during Game 6 when LeBron was fumbling and airballing his way down the stretch against the Spurs, Twitter went wild with a flurry of tweets not so much about the miscues but rather about how LBJ is no MJ and never will be.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Since midway through Ron Zook’s final season, the University of Illinois football team has enjoyed about as much good news as it’s enjoyed victories.

In other words, next to none.

But on Monday, the moribund Illini program got its biggest win in quite some time when rocket-armed Oklahoma State quarterback Wes Lunt announced that he was transferring from Stillwater to Champaign, located just 90 minutes from where he grew up as a two-time state football champ in Rochester, Ill.

“I’ve always just loved Illinois. I grew up a huge fan,” Lunt told reporters on Monday, saying all the right things about the college that he didn’t pick out of high school – even if they weren’t really true. “I like the coaches – great enthusiasm, very passionate. I could see that when they were recruiting me.”

Like Zook before him, current Illini coach Tim Beckman doesn’t lack in the enthusiasm and passion departments. Rather, like Zook, it’s the coaching department where Beckman fell short during last season’s disastrous 2-10 campaign.

With Lunt now officially an Illini, however, Beckman has in his program a quarterback who’s probably Illinois’ best – on paper, at least – since former pro Kurt Kittner. But the looming question hanging above Lunt’s transfer is will Beckman ever get a chance to actually coach the QB in a real game?

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Last Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Chicago is No. 1.

Again.

Remarkably, for the third year in a row, the Windy City is home to the No. 1 high school basketball player in America, with rising Whitney Young senior Jahlil Okafor following in the large footsteps of prior Public League phenoms Jabari Parker (2013) and Anthony Davis (2012).

The twist this time around, however, is that Chicago is also No. 2.

That’s because on Wednesday, ESPN released its updated list of the top 100 players in the Class of 2014. At the top was the 6-foot-11, 265-pound Okafor, but just behind him in the No. 2 spot was Cliff Alexander, the 6-8, 225-pound power forward from Chicago Curie.

When it comes to the caliber of prep basketball in Illinois, those rankings are great news. But for college basketball in this state, they’re perhaps not so great as many believe the odds are stacked against either Okafor or Alexander – let alone both – committing to a local school.

Namely, Illinois or DePaul.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

This weekend’s Wisch List newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

During wintertime, Chicago is undoubtedly a Bears town. During summertime, it’s always been a baseball town. And during Jordan’s time, it was a Bulls town. But during this current time in June 2013?

Well, it’s become a Blackhawks town more than anything else.

And that really is something.

This week, Dan Bernstein of 670 The Score wrote in a column at CBSChicago.com about “the 8,000 or so” Blackhawks fans “who cocooned themselves in the United Center for most of the early 21st century to live through the unfortunate coaching regimes of Alpo Suhonen, Brian Sutter, Trent Yawney and Denis Savard.”

Those were the dark days of hockey in Chicago – quite literally, with Blackhawks games blacked out on television by edict from then owner Bill Wirtz. At that time, only the hardest of the die-hards truly cared about the team – or the sport. Around town, you saw people wearing Blackhawks sweaters about as often as you saw them wearing Packers jerseys.

In other words, not much.

And both apparel choices could draw funny looks.

These days, however, the West Loop is teeming on game days with people sporting red and black, and party-hardy neighborhoods such as Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park swarm with fans clad in Blackhawks gear.

Now, you get funny looks if you aren’t wearing it.

Continue reading “Blackhawks mania puts Chicago on ice”

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

There are shapes now moving,
Two Ghosts that drift and glide,
And which of them to tackle
Each rival must decide.
They shift with spectral swiftness
Across the swarded range,
And one of them’s a shadow,
And one of them is Grange

– Grantland Rice

(CBS) The Ghost hasn’t galloped in Champaign since 1925.

But come August, Red Grange will be back. In spirit, at least.

But also in character. And just for one night.

On Friday, Aug. 23, downtown Champaign’s most historic stage venue will play host to a one-act play entitled, “Red Grange: The Galloping Ghost returns to the Virginia Theatre,” put on in conjunction with the Champaign Park District and the University of Illinois. Tickets go on sale on Friday, with all proceeds from the show benefiting the future upkeep and preservation of the 92-year-old Virginia Theatre, which recently underwent a $7 million restoration to return it to its original glory.

For 80-year-old Grange historian Charlie Finn who wrote the play, the show is a culmination of a lifelong fascination with the athlete who was voted the Big Ten’s greatest icon by the BTN in 2010 and more than a decade of research.

Finn, of Champaign, said that the play will not only focus on the life, times and triumphs of the Illini and Chicago Bears football legend, but also will transport the audience back to the Roaring ’20s with an array of Vaudeville acts, Wurlitzer organ music and an ice cream social set up outside the theater.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Wayne, meet Happy. Happy, meet Wayne …